Jimmy O'Brien was badly shown up in the second half.
Gibson Park was shocking , giving it to Hansen off the uncontested scrum when we had the two man advantage was bonkers.
Should have been hauled immediately.
The game largely passed Crowley by, how much of that was down to Gibson Park repeatedly bypassing 10.
Big concerns ahead of the World Cup with a handful of games left to right them.
That move was fucking stupid alright. When you have a 2 man advantage, you go wide, not narrow, especially if there's cover.
I would say on your bypassing Crowley comment, isn't that how Ireland are playing now?
10 isn't your first receiver every time, unlike previously. Having a big forward as your first receiver who can barrel into the opposition (and offload), pop before the tackle to the man next to him, or is capable of hitting the back behind is fantastic at disrupting defence. Especially if the forward receiving it is able to do the same thing...
Back in the Schmidt era, if a big forward had it, 2 defenders could safely come in and smash them because you know that ball is going nowhere else. Entirely predictable for the defenders where they were going, easy to defend.
Now you need to closely mark 3 other players near the ball, need layers of close in defence, to cover the pop or the offload. If 2 defenders hit the ball carrier, you've almost certainly left a gap the others can exploit. And it makes far more space available out wide as you can't simply spread all your defenders out. Organising your defence for it is hard too, it's not as simple as 2-3 "pillars" by the ruck with the scrumhalf tracking behind to pick off anyone who comes through the gap.
It's a properly clever strategy for your attack, and very difficult to counter. If you replicate that pattern in broken play, not just off breakdowns, then it's devastating.
If Ireland had a couple of players with the sort of pace the likes of Kolbe has, it'd be nigh on unstoppable when executed properly.
Was nice to see Munster actually carry out that pattern against SA too, they're clearly trying to adopt it. If you get it wrong, there's a lot of dropped balls, missed passes, etc...
Anyway, point is that approach also massively reduces the impact on your 10, your 10 can be the back behind that play, rather than the first receiver.
Sexton remaining on until pension age is stopping player development and progression even though we are a rudderless side without him at 10.
Munster should push Casey & Crowley as starters as Carbery has huge fitness issues every game he plays and Carbery has not had a decent run for Ireland.
Hopefully Bealham continues to progress as cover.
The 6 nations has to be sacrificed in 2023 to bring players through for the World Cup as we are goosed in critical areas if there are injuries.
Not going to happen though, is it? The money in 6 nations is too much for the IRFU to sacrifice it. If that was going to happen, it'd have been this year or last year...
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